Bid for a Basket
by awesomenerd16
Summary: The Gilmore Girls-inspired picnic basket bidding war that no one asked for.


Hey y'all, it's fall! And in honor of that, I've written a little story inspired by the Gilmore Girls episode, "A-Tisket, A-Tasket" where they do a picnic basket auction. Blame the constant marathoning of GG I've been doing lately, it's been on my brain. Side note: For those of you reading my other story Something About December... I've gotten y'alls messages, and I promise, PROMISE, I haven't abandoned it, I've just been uninspired to continue the story lately. Kinda been in a fall mood, and haven't quite gotten back into winter/christmas mode yet. Hopefully I'll have a little something for you guys on that front around that same time of the year though. Until then, I hope you guys enjoy this story!

* * *

The first semester of Beca's freshman year seemed to be moving at a pretty quick pace. It was already late October at Barden. The leaves we're changing, the nights were getting cooler, and the Bellas were in prep mode for sectionals that are a few weeks away. After a particularly draining session, Aubrey calls attention to the group of girls currently catching their breaths.

"Alright ladies, listen up!" Aubrey claps her hands together. "The choreography is coming along well, but Stacie, you have GOT to stop grabbing your boobs when we're midway through Turn the Beat Around. We want the judges to focus on our dance moves as a whole, and you doing that is... distracting of attention."

"Who's, yours or the judges?" Fat Amy leans over and whispers to Cynthia Rose, who is standing next to the Australian. CR snickers in response and secretly fist bumps the girl.

Aubrey could hear the snickering laughs but chooses to ignore it, continuing on with addressing the girls. "Anyways, as you all know, sectionals is in 3 weeks and we need to raise money for our trip out there. Chloe and I spoke, and we decided to forego a bikini car wash this year–"

"What? No Aubrey, I'm like super awesome at bikini car washes. See?" Fat Amy grabs her boobs and moves them in both an up and down, and circular motion whilst making squeaking noises.

"Yeah, these babies look great with suds running down them." Stacie adds, squeezing her breasts together for emphasis.

"Can't argue with that." CR eyes up Stacie's chest as she stands a couple feet to the leggy brunette's left.

"I, for one, am okay with no bikini car washes." Beca pipes up.

"That's a shame Becs. You'd look totes hot in a bikini." Chloe leans to her left towards Beca, solidifying the statement with a wink. Beca rolls her eyes at the redhead's statement, but blushes nonetheless.

Aubrey is rubbing her temple in frustration. "Instead," she interrupts, "we'll be doing a picnic basket auction."

"A what?" Beca laughs.

"A picnic basket bidding war." Chloe says with a smile. "Think that episode from Gilmore Girls where the women in Stars Hollow put together a picnic basket with whatever food and drink items they want, and the men–or women, no judgments," Chloe adds, giving Beca another wink, "bid on them. The person with the highest bid wins the picnic basket as well as lunch with the owner of the basket."

"Yeah I have no idea what you're talking about. Never seen that show. And doesn't that concept sound a little sexist?" Beca replies.

"What?!" Chloe all but shrieks, alarming a couple of the other girls. "How can you have never seen–"

"Chloe," Aubrey stops her now flustered co-captain, placing her hand gently in the other woman's shoulder. "Now is not the time to berate the hobbit on her underwhelming tv watching decision making skills." Beca shoots a glare towards the blonde.

The redhead composes herself while Aubrey picks up where her co-captain left off.

"So, as Chloe explained, we'll each buy a picnic basket and either cook or purchase food and drink items to place into your basket. We'll hold the auction at the end of next week in the late afternoon. I'll be putting up flyers around campus and letting all the frats and sororities know so we have a good turnout. The bidders won't know what food goes into the basket, but you will be standing with your basket on stage during the bidding. Then you'll each enjoy your basket for lunch, or early dinner, whatever… with whomever wins it right after the auction ends. The money raised during the auction will hopefully be enough to pay for our trip to sectionals." Aubrey finishes her explanation of the plan.

"Can we vote against these ideas?" Beca says with her hand raised in the air.

"When it comes to these decisions, this is not a democracy, Beca. As a member of the Bellas you will participate, or you will vacate your position within the group." Aubrey commands with a finite tone in her voice.

It's no secret that the blonde captain and the brunette freshman have butted heads all semester, Beca being a constant pain in the older woman's ass. Aubrey knows Chloe has grown an attachment to the younger girl, but the blonde would have no issue and show no remorse kicking the other girl out of the group for the smallest reason.

"Fine, I'll make a damn picnic basket."

"Very good. Now, everyone back into position. I want to run through the set one more time and then you're dismissed." The blonde orders, a collection of groans following, but obeying nonetheless as the girls set back up to begin.

* * *

Several days later, Beca finds herself wandering down an aisle in a craft store a couple miles from campus. The brunette wasn't shy about her lack of enthusiasm for the upcoming auction in two days, but she still needed supplies to put together, lest she be ousted from the Bellas by their dictatorial captain. So when Fat Amy and Stacie showed up at her dorm not one hour ago, she reluctantly agreed to accompany them to the craft and grocery stores to grab her own basket and food.

At the current moment, she's perusing one end of the picnic basket aisle, not particularly caring about what she ends up grabbing. Glancing to her right, she sees Fat Amy pick up one of the larger baskets sitting on the shelves— "If it can't hold a full sized ham, it's not worth getting," she says before walking away to go look at some decorative ribbon with Stacie. Beca just rolled her eyes with a grin on her face. She hasn't known these girls for long, but the comical Australian has certainly become one of her favorite people. As she continues to walk past basket after basket, her eye is caught by one with a reddish hue to it that reminds her of another person that is quickly becoming her most favorite person. The weave of the basket mixed with the copper coloring looks moderately similar to the wavy red curls of her Bella captain, something that brings the slightest of smirks to her face. Shaking the thoughts from her mind of a certain redhead, she decides to claim that basket for no other reason than she's tired of looking and it's now the one most directly in front of her. Yep, that's her reasoning, and she'll stick to it. Beca grabs the basket by the handle, lifts it from its place on the shelf and heads off in the direction to find her fellow Bella sisters.

Once finished checking the aisles for any accessories, the girls make their way to the front of the store to pay for their respective baskets. Stacie had picked up a small roll of lace to add to hers— "It makes it kinda sexy, dontcha think?" She stated with a wry grin—and the three girls make their way to the nearby grocery store. Each of them split up to go pick out whatever items they wanted for their lunches, and after some mild deliberating on the main part of the meal (Beca settled for making some pb&j sandwiches), the brunette found herself on the snack aisle… because if she was going to be subjected to sitting with some lame person for however long it took to eat this food, she was gonna have some of her favorite snacks, dammit.

Fifteen minutes later, Beca has an array of items in her basket that's she's pretty satisfied with. Bread, peanut butter and strawberry jam for the main course; she also picked up some strawberries and a can of whipped cream–not for any seductive reasoning, Beca just liked spraying the can directly into her mouth for a snack. She also piled in a giant box of rice krispy treats, some sour cream and onion chips, gushers, a bag of peanut butter m&m's, carrots and hummus, and some root beers and water bottles for drinks. If this food didn't have a purpose to serve in two days time, Beca was tempted to take all of it home and just binge eat whilst making a few new mixes.

As she makes her way towards the checkout line, Beca finds herself tossing in a few more random items without really paying any attention to what she's grabbing. Beca finally meets back up with Stacie and Fat Amy, and after paying for their items, the three Bellas collectively head out to return to campus.

* * *

The weekend came pretty quickly, and the freshman DJ found herself standing with the other Bellas, ready for the upcoming event.

Beca had to give it to Aubrey, the turnout for the auction was actually pretty decent. Rather than hold it in the quad like originally intended, the blonde senior had been convinced by a very persuasive Australian to hold the auction at a frat house and have a coinciding party afterwards. So Aubrey reached out to Howie who was the head of SBT, and after deciding to charge a five dollar admission fee, they came to an agreement that the Bellas would collect 20% of the total if Aubrey promised they would not be singing at the event. Aubrey also managed to get the sister sorority to SBT to participate in the basket bidding, something about the head of the house owing her a favor.

The girls had all gotten to the frat early in the afternoon to set up a small stage and area where all the picnic baskets would go. By five o'clock, everything was ready to go, the backyard was packed with people and the auction was gearing to start up. Aubrey and Chloe were just adjusting a few of the baskets for aesthetic purposes when an annoying voice pierces the air around them.

"I'm ready to make some magic, Posen, how do you want me?" Bumper Allen, leader of the Bella's rival group, stalks up behind the two women with the rest of his Trebles following behind him.

"Bumper." Aubrey responds, gritting her teeth.

"You know, it's so sweet of you that you immediately thought of me to MC this little soirée. I'm flattered, really." The Treble leader says, the cockiness in his voice apparent to both women.

"Well you have the loudest mouth of anyone I know, so... I didn't have to think too hard about it." The blonde captain fires back, a fake smile plastered on her pristine face.

"Vocal projection isn't the only thing my mouth is good at. Gimme a shout when you want a ride on the bumper car." The short man jeers, a cocky grin on his face, high fiving Unicycle behind him.

"Thank you," Aubrey responds, with a grimace.

"What for?" Bumper replies, turning back toward the blonde, confused.

"I had forgotten what I had for lunch, but your statement helped me remember when it came back up just now." Without another word, the two co-captains leave the guys standing near the stage as they return to their rest of their team.

"God he's so gross and annoying, I just want to punch his stupid face in sometimes." Aubrey says in frustration.

"I know Bree," Chloe says, trying to comfort the woman and help her maintain her calm so she and the rest of the crowd doesn't _actually_ experience the blonde's lunch again. "But we need him for today, then we can crush him at sectionals and the discomfort of being in his presence will all be worth it."

"You're right. Okay." Aubrey gives a resolute nod before turning to the group of woman. "Everyone ready to make some money?" Aubrey is greeted with a less than enthusiastic round of cheers.

About an hour later and the auction had been going fairly well. The women from the Tri-Delt sorority had averaged about thirty bucks a basket, the last of whom was currently on stage bringing in a handful of bids reaching fifty dollars at the moment. Aubrey couldn't be more pleased as she watched a frat guy head up on stage to deposit his cash and link arms with the pretty blonde he just won a lunch date with. With that, the Bella captain watched as Fat Amy approached the stage, swiping the mic right out of Bumper's hands, much to his dismay.

"Alright ya rowdy dingos, who wants a piece of this? Opening bid starting at ten bucks."

"What the heck, you can't just- I'm the MC here!" Bumper whines.

"Shut it bumpah sticker, I've got this under control." The Aussie says with a grin. "Ten bucks, you there. Twelve, alright yea…Mr Muscles ova there is in for twenty. You know, even if ya don't win, find me after," she winks in the man's direction.

Several hunky looking guys continue to furiously bid for the Australian's basket, reaching a height of eighty dollars before it's won. The bronzed and muscled frat guy hops up on stage to grab Fat Amy's rather large picnic basket before escorting her off the stage towards the group of sorority girls and other Bellas.

"And _that_ is how that's done." She clicks her mouth and gestures shooting her fingers towards the Deltas, all looking at her with some semblance of shock. As she and her arm candy pass by the Bella captains, she says, "If you're looking for me later… I'll be busy working on my horizontal running, without the running." Stacie high fives her as she makes it past the group.

A handful of the Bellas have their turn up on the stage, each bringing in between twenty and twenty-five bucks each. Aubrey steps on stage, and after a few back and forth gibes from her and Bumper, the bidding begins. After several guys call out bids– with Stacie even throwing in a bid with a sultry wink– Howie ends up with the winning amount of fifty dollars. At that point, Aubrey walks off the stage a little more tinted in the cheeks than when she'd gone up there.

As each of the other Bellas concluded their auctions and headed off the stage with their winning bidders, the group had become significantly less crowded, Beca, Chloe and Stacie being the only ones remaining.

"Looks like you're up Becs," Chloe nudges the freshman. The brunette turns to her co-captain with a look of discomfort and anxiety in her eyes.

"Uhm, yeah could like, maybe one of you guys go first? Or both. And then maybe I could just head out back through the front entrance before needing to go up there at all?" Beca says with unease.

Becoming bored with waiting around and filing her nails, Stacie took Beca's reluctance to head up as her cue, and strutted her way onto the stage to the sound of several whistles.

About five full minutes later and much bickering from the crowd of men, Stacie was walking back off the stage with a tall jock-like brunette, the Bellas' cause now 150 dollars richer.

It was during that particular auction when Chloe had stepped away from Beca to quickly meet up with a familiar face standing in the crowd. Earlier in the week, Chloe had contacted her friend and former friend-with-benefits, Tom, to come and help her out at their auction. She explained to him what people would be bidding on, and asked if he'd be kind enough to bid on her basket, with the expectation that he might not need to eat the lunch with her if everything went according to her plan.

The whole reason for this auction was not just to raise money for the Bellas to pay for sectionals. They easily could have done that with a car wash or a bake sale. But Chloe has been pining after a certain surly brunette Bella for the last two months and Aubrey just couldn't take the unacknowledged sexual tension anymore, nor did she want to hear any further talk about the annoying freshman from her roommate. So, the blonde senior came up with this particular plan of the auction and explained to Chloe that she could use it as a low-key, no pressure way of scoring a date with the girl.

Chloe had been immediately excited about the prospect and went about making her own plans to ensure she had an out for her own basket. Hence having Tom on-scene for the bidding. She knew the man well, they were good friends before they even shacked up a handful of times. But now that she's discovered a heavy interest in someone else, she needed a little assistance in making a move. Never one to be intimidated by a potential romantic partner, Chloe finds the young brunette DJ incredibly intimidating, always nervous to just go for it and ask her out. So having Aubrey and Tom in her corner today has been really helpful.

Chloe smiles at the tall and slender man as she approaches him.

"Hey Tom, I'm glad you made it." The sandy brown haired man smiles a kind smile.

"Hey Chlo. Wouldn't have missed it, not for you."

They hug briefly, and as they break away, Tom gets slightly distracted by the commotion of men bidding on the hot brunette currently on stage showing off her backside. A loud cough regains the man's attention. Tom grins guiltily at his redheaded friend before giving a small shrug.

"So where is she?" Chloe blushes, remembering telling Tom the whole reason for this charade was for her to bid on Beca's basket. After hearing the redhead speak a few minutes about her crush, the man had immediately agreed to help his friend out in any way he could. She promised Tom that he wouldn't have to spend any of his own money, willing to float him whatever her basket went for. To her surprise, the man just smiled and said that wouldn't be necessary, as it was for a good cause.

"Right over there," Chloe points in the direction of Beca, who is standing awkwardly near the stage looking quite anxious. She is, however, not alone, Chloe notices.

"So Bec, you excited?" Jesse asks the girl, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Why would I be?"

"Because, this is like, an epic way of meeting someone! It's practically straight out of the movies I mean, who knows, the person who wins your basket could be the person you end up falling in love with and marrying." The Treble boy says with a longing look at Beca.

The brunette is barely registering anything Jesse is saying, as Stacie is now walking off the stage with her own piece of meat and Chloe is steps away from her, grabbing her arm gently as she speaks.

"Don't worry Becs, I'll go first. Save the best for last."

Beca merely rolls her eyes, but blushes nonetheless as the redhead continues past her to head up onto the stage. Turning around briefly before hitting the stairs, she sends a quick wink in the brunette's direction.

"Alright, just as we have all day, let's start the bidding at five dollars. Anyone?" Bumper says uninterested. By now, the man has realized the attention has essentially been on all the women parading around on stage today, none of which he even got the chance to bid on himself. So suffice it to say, he was bored and wanted to leave already, putting little effort into the remaining Bellas that come on stage.

Several guys throw out bids on the redhead, each amount increasing by a few dollars here and there. It's when the mark is at twenty five bucks when Beca hears a man call out "forty." She looks around and sees a familiar face in the crowd not fifteen feet away from her. The guy from the shower block that walked in on her and Chloe.

Beca immediately grips her hands together into a fist and clenches her jaw, not liking one bit that this man is here bidding on Chloe. She doesn't know why she doesn't like it (though if pressed, could probably come up with the reason), she just feels weird about it. The light brown haired man battles with one other guy until the bid climbs up to seventy dollars, the second guy succumbing to the high amount and backing off with a shake of his head. Beca looks up to the stage in time to see a bright smile on Chloe's face as Bumper calls her auction closed and shower guy the winner. Frowning, she feels something jab her lightly in the arm, realizing Jesse just poked her to gain her attention.

"Hey, you okay?" He asks. "You look a little upset about something."

"I'm fine. Really." Beca watches shower guy head up to the stage and link his arm with Chloe, receiving a kiss on the cheek from the bubbly and excited woman.

"Allllright, well I see Benji over there, so seeing as you're up, I'll leave ya to it and hopefully see you later." Jess says with a goofy grin.

"Uh huh." She dismisses the boy next to her without so much as a second glance, as Jesse walks away to meetup with Benji. The brunette keeps her eyes on the approaching figure of Chloe Beale and what's-his-face.

"Hey Becs! Looks like you're finally up," she older woman says enthusiastically.

"Terrific. I should've made a cardboard cutout of myself to put up there instead." Beca groans.

"It won't be so bad."

"So you say."

"I was literally just up there you goof." Chloe laughs. "It wasn't bad at all. Kind of just flew by and then it was over." The redhead tries to say reassuringly.

Taking a deep breath, Beca exhales slowly to gather herself and clear any thoughts of Chloe going off and having a lunch date with that guy after her auction ends. She heads over to the three steps that lead up to the makeshift stage and takes her place next to the Treble leader, a firm look of disinterest and displeasure plastered on her face.

"Alright let's get this over with," she grumpily mumbles to the short man next to her.

"Happy to oblige, babe." Bumper grumbles before being the microphone up to his mouth.

"Alright, last one everybody! Thank God," he mumbles the last bit quietly. "Let's start the bidding at three dollars."

"Hey, ass!" Beca says, offended at the price drop. Every other bid had started at five, so suffice it to say, the brunette was glaring at the asshat standing next to her.

"Five dollars," Jesse yells out. Realizing what he's doing, Beca internally rolls her eyes when she spots the boy standing next to his roommate, holding his arm up to indicate his bid. Beca has been careful not to show any interest to her fellow CD stacker and sort-of friend. He's nice and all and helps pass the time while at the radio station, but the kid can be really annoying and pushy at times... not someone she finds herself attracted to. The guy, for some reason, can't seem to take a hint though.

"He's very good." Aubrey laments, looking to her left towards her best friend. The blonde had joined Chloe over by the front of the stage as soon as Beca had made her way up.

"Please, his charm will get him nowhere," Chloe scoffs.

Aubrey can feel jealousy coming off the redhead in waves. While the irksome brunette sits high at the top of her list of people she dislikes, she has recognized over the last two months how much her best friend has come to like the annoying DJ. So in the spirit of wanting her best friend to be happy, she devised this plan for Chloe. If the hobbit made Chloe happy, then it made her happy and she could support Beca for that. Secretly, of course. She's never admit that out loud to anyone.

"Five dollars, do I hear six dollars?" Bumper questions to the crowd, few people looking truly interested as they knew this was the last basket before the party started.

"Ten dollars." Chloe shoots her hand up in the air.

Standing up on the platform, Beca's eyes widen and immediately fall on the other woman's, raising a curious eyebrow. Chloe meets the DJ's eyes and simply shrugs and shoots her a sly grin back.

"Okay, I have ten dollars. Do I have fifteen?"

"Twenty." Chloe yells out.

"Wait, didn't you just bid ten? Whatever, it's your cash. Twenty dollars, do I hear twenty-five?"

"Thirty." Jesse counters.

Bumper looks confused.

"Okay, see, you guys don't seem to understand the way this thing works."

"Forty dollars." Chloe interjects.

"Fifty dollars!"

"Excuse me, have either of you noticed how tiny this thing is?" Bumper says, pointed behind him towards Beca's small basket.

"Seventy-five." Chloe says determinedly, glaring over towards the taller brunette man standing about thirty feet from her.

"Now we're not talking cents nimrods, we're talking dollars remember." The Treble leader says, holding out his arms and glancing back and forth between the two bidders.

"Shut it Bumper and keep auctioneering." Aubrey scolds him from her place in the crowd. The man glares at his blonde nemesis from a distance before doing what he's told.

"Hmm, looks like Jesse might be hesitating." Aubrey says, looking over towards where the obnoxious boy stands, whispering to his goofy friend next to him. She sees the second boy hand Jesse some bills from his wallet before he turns back towards Bumper.

"Good." Chloe states, not taking her eyes off the motions of the young Treble. "But even if he doesn't, I don't give a rats ass. I didn't burn my summer away with that crappy job to not use the cash when I need it!" She says with a determined look plastered on her face.

"A hundred dollars!" The boy exclaims, sending a challenging glare over towards the redhead.

Beca for her part is standing on the stage with her hands covering her face, feeling completely mortified as Chloe and Jesse continue to make a scene as they bid on her basket.

"A hundred? A hundred dollars?" Bumper squawks. "Okay, going once…"

"Two hundred dollars."

Beca's jaw drops at Chloe's bid, while gasps and chatter within the crowd can be heard.

"Holy shit, are you guys for real?" Bumper says in disbelief.

Bumper looks towards Jesse to see if the boy dared to bid again. The newest Treble simply shakes his head in the negative.

"Okay, we've got two hundred going once, two hundred going twice. . . sold to Satan's lap dog for two hundred dollars." He taps the microphone like a gavel. "That concludes the auction, finally. I'm going to go get drunk, I suggest you all do the same." The man drops the mic down and heads off the stage in search of alcohol.

"Well, you did it. Go get your girl." Aubrey nudges the redhead standing next to her. Chloe gives her a soft smile before turning on her heels to head up the stage, deposit her cash and collect Beca's basket.

As she watched her Bella captain ascend the platform, Beca would swear the redhead actually looked shy as she approached her.

"Two hundred dollars? You just spent two hundred dollars on a stupid little basket and my company?!"

"Yeah well, it's for a good cause." Chloe says whilst biting her lip.

"You know, Beale, if you wanted a date with me, you could've had it for free." Beca teased the older woman, smirking when the other woman's jaw dropped slightly at the declaration.

"That's, I–," the redhead fumbles. "Really?"

"Yeah." The brunette smiles softly.

"Well maybe that two hundred dollars will buy me a few dates?" Chloe asks hopefully.

"If you play your cards right." Beca responds coyly. She turns to grab her basket followed by the redhead's arm, leading the two of them off the stage, out of the frat house and over to the small park and lake area right across the street from the SBT house. The freshman guides them towards one of the big shade trees and they sit down on the ground to enjoy the time together and whatever food the brunette had opted to pack.

Beca begins to open her picnic basket up and remove several of the items, placing the bagged sandwiches, water bottles and loose snacks on the thin checkered blanket that was attached to the top of the basket and is now laid out underneath the two women.

"So, don't you need to like, have you lunch with the dude that won your basket?" Beca breaks the silence after a minute, running her hand over the top of the wicker basket, eyes down.

"Tom? No. He knew all along I'd never be joining him for lunch. So I made sure to pack him stuff he'd like and could take back with him. Ooh gushers? Becs, I love these!" Chloe squeals as she opens a pouch and pops a candy into her mouth.

The brunette lifts her head questioningly towards the woman in front of her.

"He knew?…" she furrows her eyebrows.

"Yeah, I kind of, maybe asked him in advance to bid on my basket and win it at any cost."

"Why would you do that?" Beca's eyes bore into pools of blue staring back at her.

"Is it not obvious, Becs?" She says, looking deeply into the brunette's eyes.

"Maybe make it crystal clear. I can be a little slow sometimes." Chloe bites her lip shyly before answering the girl sitting next to her.

"I wanted to not have to worry about who won my basket so that I could focus on winning your basket."

"You wanted to win my basket?" Beca asks, surprised.

"Yeah. I- I kinda like you Beca. Like really, and I've been too nervous to actually ask you out, so this kind of seemed like an easier option." The redhead says softly with her head down, missing the other woman's smile grow larger with each passing word she says.

Beca reaches up with her left hand to lift Chloe's chin, meeting the other woman's shy gaze.

"Well I, for one, am glad it was you that won it." Beca states confidently.

"You are?"

"Yeah."

"Good. So you're not freaked I bid on you then?"

"No freaking happening, nope. I'm freak-free." Chloe giggles.

"SO, I do believe I owe you a lunch madam." Beca continues, pulling out the last of the food items and opening up a couple sandwich bags. "Here is a world famous pb&j sandwich. A Mitchell family recipe." She hands one to the redhead before taking a big bite herself.

"Mmm, very good Becs." The Bella mumbles with her mouth full.

"Thanks. The secret… putting peanut butter on both sides of the bread and a heaping amount of jam in the middle." She whispers as if it actually is some big secret, bringing a finger to her lips to indicate the other woman should keep that to herself.

"I had no idea I was friends with a master chef this whole time." Chloe teases.

"Yeah yeah," Beca rolls her eyes in jest.

"So what else ya got here?" Chloe asks, rummaging through the small pile of food in front of her as Beca clicks open a can of root beer.

"Hummus, yum!" Chloe dips a carrot into the dip and pops it in her mouth, picking up a couple small items. "Annnd Twizzlers, Cheeto puffs and sour patch kids? These are all things I love to eat." Chloe pauses to think a moment. "Beca Mitchell, were you hoping I'd win your basket?" Chloe exclaims as if it was something scandalous being said.

Beca eyes grow as wide as saucers as she splutters to respond.

"Wh-what? No! Of course not, I just you know, threw stuff in there. It was all random items haphazardly grabbed from the shelves at the grocery store and stop looking at me like that, this stuff wasn't for you!" Beca heatedly blushes under the scrutinous gaze if the redheaded Bella standing next to her.

"You _hate_ sour patch kids _and_ cheetos. Which is absolutely bizarre and you're weird for that. But you do, and I can't see you willingly putting them in here. So… what's the reason?" Chloe goads with a smirk.

"I didn't, I didn't get them for any reason at all." Chloe stares at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Anyone that might have won my basket could've liked them!" Beca continues to try and defend her actions, the blush rapidly increasing on her cheeks.

"Mhmm, whatever you say Becs." Tossing a couple sour patch kids into her mouth with a grin.

"FINE." Beca takes a deep breath. "Maaaybe I kinda, sorta hoped you'd win it somehow."

"I knew it!" Chloe exclaimed with a pointed finger aimed at the brunette.

"Yeah yeah. That or I would ditch the whole auction, you'd track me down and we'd end up sharing the thing while watching trashy tv." Chloe's smile grows wide.

"Regardless, you thought of me and wanted a date with me!" The redhead says, doing a little shake with her shoulders as an added effect.

"Oh hush, miss big-spender." And it's Chloe's turn to finally blush. "Thank you for your _very_ charitable contribution, by the way." Beca teases.

"Well I'm sure the Bellas will greatly appreciate it."

"I can think of one Bella in particular that appreciates it." Beca says with a smirk, leaning in closer to the redhead.

"I already know Aubrey appreciates it." The redhead snarks back in a softer voice, her face inches away from the brunette's.

"You ass." Beca swats the woman's knee, leaning back in shock. "I was gonna reward you for your generosity, ya know. But now I'm rethinking that." The DJ reaches for a rice krispy treat, opening the package and taking a bite.

"Oh, no, please. I'd be happy to receive any reward you wish to hand out." Chloe slowly, teasingly, drags her hand up the left wrist and forearm of the brunette. Beca gulps loudly before responding.

"Well, since you've asked so nicely…"

The brunette leans into the small space remaining between the two women, her face closing the inches until her nose is pressed up against Chloe's. Feeling the hot breath on her own lips, Beca tilts her head slightly to her left, erasing the last bit of distance by pressing her lips firmly against the soft and waiting lips of Chloe Beale.

Neither could tell whose soft moans were whose, but both women continue to kiss with a light reverence, not wanting to let their unspoken passion and desire overwhelm their first kiss too quickly. They break apart slowly, hovering near each other's lips for a moment before opening their eyes. Small smiles gracing their faces.

"That was…"

"Really nice."

"And tasty." Beca looks at Chloe with a furrowed brow.

"You taste like a rice krispy treat."

"Oh, yeah. Um sorry." Beca moves her hand up to cover her mouth, feeling a little embarrassed, but Chloe is quick to grab her hand.

"Don't be. I liked it." And Beca smiles, leaning back in for a second kiss: quick but firm.

"Good."

Beca and Chloe settle next to one another on the blanket to continue their picnic, laying side by side, and basking in their new-found relationship. Several moments of silence pass before it's broken again.

"So." Chloe says, tracing soft patterns on the brunette's hand with her thumb.

"So?"

"About you never having watched Gilmore Girls…"


End file.
